Bernard Alsop (d. 1653; fl. 1602–1653)
Bernard Alsop, printer, 1602–1650; with Thomas Creed, at the sign of the Eagle & Child; in Garter Place, in Barbican, 1617; by Saint Anne's Church near Aldersgate, 1618; at the Dolphin, in Distaff Lane, Old Fish Street, 1621; in Honey Suckle Court, Grub Street, near the Flying Horse, 1641; in Grub Street, near the Upper Pump, 1602–1650.
Bernard Alsop was apprenticed to Humphrey Limpenny in 1601 and turned over to William White in 1603. He was a partner of Thomas Creede in 1616 and and succeeded him in 1617. Alsop partnered with Thomas Fawcett from 1625–1643. He married Elizabeth Wood on the 21st of August, 1626, in St. Gregory by St. Paul in the City of London. He took on Robert and Abraham Wood, possibly relatives of Elizabeth, as apprentices in 1630. Other bound apprentices: Robert Lewis, 1620; Richard Reade, 1627; George Horton, shared with Thomas Fawcett, 1637; and Adam Marsh, 1647. Alsop was buried on the 8th of January, 1653, in the parish of St. Giles Cripplegate.
A Dictionary of the Booksellers and Printers who were at Work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1641 to 1667, by Henry Plomer (1907)
ALSOP, or ALLSOPP (BERNARD), printer in London, (1) with T. Creed, at the sign of the Eagle & Child; (2) Garter Place, in Barbican, 1617; (3) By Saint Anne's Church neere Aldersgate, 1618; (4) The Dolphin, in Distaff Lane, Old Fish Street, 1621; (5) Grub Street, in Honey Suckle Court, neere to the Flying Horse, 1641; (6) Grub Street, neere the Upper Pump, 1650 (1602-50). A native of Derby. Was apprenticed to Humphrey Lympenny, stationer of London, for eight years from Christmas, 1601, but in 1603 he was transferred for the remainder of his term to William White, (Arber, ii. 259.) In 1616 he is found in partnership with Thomas Creed, a printer who had begun printing about 1580, and whose printing house was known by the sign of the Eagle & Child. Creed either retired from business or died in the following year, when Alsop appears to have succeeded to his printing materials, but whether he moved into new premises or whether the first and second imprints given above refer to the same place is not clear. Nine years later he entered into partnership with Thomas Fawcett, or Forsett. In the year 1626 they were summoned before the High Commission for being concerned in printing Sir Robert Cotton's Short View of the Long life and reign of Henry the Third. Alsop admitted that he had purchased the manuscript of Ferdinand Ely, a secondhand bookseller in Little Britain. He and his partner only printed one sheet. They were also the printers of much of the dramatic literature of Beaumont and Fletcher, Decker, Greene, and other writers. Bernard Alsop was one of the twenty master printers allowed by the Act of 1637, but his partner was not mentioned. In 1641 he was sent for by the House of Commons for printing the Hertfordshire Petition. [Commons Journals, January 25th, 1641. See Greensmith, J.]. On the outbreak of the troubles with the King, Alsop and Fawcett printed several news-sheets, the best known being the Weekly Accompt of certain Special & Remarkable Passages from Both Houses of Parliament, which first appeared on August 3rd, 1643, and in the same year they were committed to the Fleet Prison for printing a pamphlet entitled His Majesty s Propositions to Sir John Hotham and the Inhabitants of Hull. They petitioned the House of Lords for their release, declaring that the pamphlet was printed by their servants during their absence. Beyond the imprisonment, which lasted for some months, no further punishment followed. [Lords' Journals, v. 214, 533.] Bernard Alsop was reputed by his contemporaries to have printed pamphlets on Scotch affairs, using Evan Tyler's imprint. Fawcett appears to have retired from the partnership about 1644. Nothing is known as to the date of Bernard Alsop's death, but in 1653 his widow, Elizabeth Alsop, is found carrying on the business. Creed's type and ornaments, when they came into Alsop's hands, had been in use many years and were getting into bad condition, but his successor used them during the whole of his life. Consequently his later books are very poor specimens of typography, and his news-sheets were printed in the roughest possible manner.